History Main / AnimationAgeGhetto

Anyone who has studied this phenomenon will always tell you that "Cartoons are..." is usually followed by these two words - "For toddlers" or "For children." And when die-hard purists of RatedMForManly (or followers of any other "adult" themed trope) get involved, it then decays into "For babies" and, eventually and derogatorily "For gays." This even applies if said follower watches cartoons, but the shows rely on [[RefugeInVulgarity heavy blue comedy (i.e. South Park, Brinkleberry)]].

It's also worth noting that, in the West, there is a commonly held belief that, as aforementioned, AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentecales, or- more in line with the ghetto- 'All Anime Is Shounen.' Bowdlerisers won't let anything resembling seinen or josei get on the air (possibly out of fear that it will completely dominate everything else), and those that do are so heavily edited that they might as well be shounen/shoujo. (At least they don't take it to its logical extreme and force it all to be kodomomuke...)

These days, the Ghetto appears to have lost some strength -- at least on television, anyway. Any cartoon not on a broadcast network (read: most cartoons made today) can defy the Ghetto as much as their mission statements allow. The concept of the ParentalBonus also made a comeback; after enough [=PSAs=] on parents needing to know what their kids are watching, the networks finally figured out parents can be a demographic. The successes of shows such as ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' proved animated shows for adults can be profitable -- to the point where such shows exist within their own genre, fill entire viewing blocs (such as Creator/CartoonNetwork's late-night Creator/AdultSwim and Creator/{{FOX}}'s prime-time Animation Domination Sunday), and build [[Creator/SethMacFarlane entire careers]]. These shows' tendencies to take RefugeInAudacity and RefugeInVulgarity, however, [[AllAdultAnimationisSouthPark can make people think animation remains "immature"]] -- even if it's not for kids -- which doesn't help matters when it comes to breaking animation out of the Age Ghetto.

* ''[[TheMatrix Animatrix]]''has a warning on the package saying it has adult content,is based on an R-rated film,and and is not meant for kids.

* ''[[TheMatrix Animatrix]]''has a warning on the package saying it has adult content,is based on an R-rated film,and and is not meant for kids.

* [[''TheMatrix'' Animatrix]] has a warning on the package saying it has adult content,is based on an R-rated film,and and is not meant for kids.

* Totally averted by ''KingOfTheHill'', which has always stayed out of the ghetto by focusing almost entirely on adult-oriented humor. And we don't mean "excessive raunchiness and DeadBabyComedy" Adult, we mean "the normal and instantly relatable stuff grown-ups have to deal with day-to-day" type of Adult. Kids and teens, who were at first drawn in by the "from the makers of ''BeavisAndButthead''" marketing, found the show boring and stayed away, but the adult audience kept the show running for [[LongRunners 13 seasons]].

* The Scandinavian DVD release of ''BeavisAndButtheadDoAmerica'' highlights the differences between rating systems in different countries very handily, with ''five'' different ratings for ''six'' different countries on the packaging and disc: The film is rated 15-and-up in Denmark and Ireland, 12-and-up in the UK, 11-and-up in Norway, ''7-and-up in Sweden'' '''and 3-and-up in Finland'''.

If you love animation and desperately want your favorite medium to be taken seriously, then you might have to wait a few generations. As with video games and social issues, it will take a generation that grew up with a reformed mindset and still watches cartoons before it's recognized as a truly acceptable general, and a second generation to grow up knowing that it's okay to like cartoons into adulthood free of stigmatization, and likely a third generation to accept that cartoons are as normal for anyone to like as any other form of media. Some say we're well into the first generation, while others claim we're already into the second. However, animation still has a long way to go before it's truly accepted as an art form by all elements of society, with the main evidence being that some cartoons are still singled out as corrupting children because they're cartoons with questionable content rather than the questionable content itself. But, with time and with your defiance of this ignorance, this soon hopefully will become a ForgottenTrope.

If you love animation and desperately want your favorite medium to be taken seriously, then you might have to wait a few generations. As with video games and social issues, it will take a generation that grew up with a reformed mindset and still watches cartoons before it's recognized as a truly acceptable general, and a second generation to grow up knowing that it's okay to like cartoons into adulthood free of stigmatization, and likely a third generation to accept that cartoons are as normal for anyone to like as any other form of media. Some say we're well into the first generation, while others claim we're already into the second. However, animation still has a long way to go before it's truly accepted as an art form by all elements of society, with the main evidence being that some cartoons are still singled out as corrupting children because they're cartoons with questionable content rather than the questionable content itself. But, with time and with your defiance of this ignorance, this soon hopefully will become a DeadHorseTrope.

Any show featuring humanoids and anthropomorphic animals but are definitely not meant for kids will suffer this without reasonable doubt. You use a talking animal, you are for kids, even if you have mindless sex orgies, gratuitous cursing, intense violence, and/or realistic tense situations. The Ghetto then kicks into full swing- you will immediately find a major resistance, even amongst some of those against the ghetto, of using FunnyAnimals in such things simply because the ghetto is so built into them that the very concept of FunnyAnimals or PettingZooPeople in realistic situations is something that shouldn't be done.

** By the way, what most in the west don't know is that there is more than just shonen, but in terms of shipping it to the West, at least on major broadcasting, the ghetto prevents anyone from learning about this because executives/moral guardians are going to make it shonen. Any anime that isn't acceptable for kids and not set on a network that plays such stuff uncensored- or is acceptable for kids to an extent and has to be excessively censored- will suffer this. However, that particular aspect is not Age Ghetto- it begins with Bowdlerisation and continues from there.

Once television animation became associated with children, the producers of animated shows began writing down to their presumed audience -- which made animation outside of the Age Ghetto less profitable than animation inside it. Anything considered safe for children can potentially be licensed out for merchandise, which is nearly guaranteed to sell; shows can even be [[MerchandiseDriven 30-minute commercials]] (FCC regulations permitting). The Age Ghetto paints older demographics as unprofitable. Do ask yourself "Why are cartoons generally geared towards children?" Psychology has the answer: Children are more susceptible to being drawn to the simple art and feel more connection with brightly colored drawings than they do real people and grittier colors. Adults tend to more realistic fare, even if animated, and most don't like being made to feel like children except for nostalgia purposes. However, it should be noted that this does not mean that adults cannot appreciate or like cartoons, or take cartoons seriously like children since animation is simply another form of media (raping a woman in a live-action movie or raping a woman in an animated cartoon are both shocking- and 'not real') By our very psychological hardwiring, cartoons were bound to have found a wider audience with children. However, thanks to the Age Ghetto, entertainment culture also led to a baseless psychological belief that not only is it weird for adults to like cartoons, adults shouldn't like cartoons because cartoons are for kids, and the only reason why is because cartoons are 'not real.' (As aforestated, live action fare technically isn't 'real' either) Even if a growing number of adults watch cartoons, it's less to do with the content and more to do with downfall of the idea of cartoons being solely camp or crude edutainment. In fact, there's nothing absolutely stopping adults from liking cartoons outside of cultural norms.

This has not stopped some from trying. As seen in the ExecutiveMeddling, TheyChangedItNowItSucks, LighterAndSofter, and DarkerAndEdgier pages, some cartoons start out with amazing maturity and complexity matching that and even exceeding that of 'live' programming, but because of the Ghetto, executives don't understand it and thus don't know what to do with it or how to market it; parents only see the animation and assume it's for kids; kids see the animation and assume it's for them. This leads to an iron web of animation, where executives immediately pull the show or forces it to be lighter and softer as soon as trouble strikes, and the trouble is usually parents who becry the show because it features non-kid friendly material, even though that wasn't the intention in the first place. In a reversal of that, sometimes the execs decides to ratchet up the content to bring in a more adult fanbase, but the 'adults' in question are sophomoric college-age viewers. This currently renders a successful "humbly mature, non-comedy animated show" nearly impossible on current primetime television.

Because of a lack of theatrical venues, short-form cartoons turned to television. Full-quality animation was expensive and involved protracted development cycles -- but LimitedAnimation methods could achieve the required output of ten to twenty episodes per season while remaining reasonable in terms of cost. Studios realized cartoons made with limited animation could be cheaper than live-action shows; while a few did make primetime early on -- the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', for example -- the majority of limited animation shows ended up as {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} fare aimed primarily at youngsters, again for bottom-line reasons: Children weren't as sensitive to quality issues as adult viewers, and cartoons were cheaper and more reliable to produce than the kinds of live-action shows normally made for children (animation features no last-minute bloopers, no need to control live untrained children, and less pay/credit for the people who do the work). Of course the studios and networks loved it- and so did the parents, who could leave their children with MoralGuardian controlled shows they were certain wouldn't corrupt them. Cartoons also suffered from a '[[ComedyGhetto comedy only' stereotype in that, if they're not funny, they have no business being a cartoon and thus are not and cannot quality entertainment for 'mature' people.]] Since kids were the primary (and only) target of cartoons and children respond to humor more than any other genre and laughter to any other feeling, cartoons became the stuff of cheap laughs. While many gags did elicit responses, most of the cartoons were generally very cheap and lazy with their writing. Thus, they tended to rely on the presumption that all children were amused by things such as superdeformation and wacky sound effects, which became staples of cartoons thanks to its ease creating surrealism.

Because of a lack of theatrical venues, short-form cartoons turned to television. Full-quality animation was expensive and involved protracted development cycles -- but LimitedAnimation methods could achieve the required output of ten to twenty episodes per season while remaining reasonable in terms of cost. Studios realized cartoons made with limited animation could be cheaper than live-action shows; while a few did make primetime early on -- the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', for example -- the majority of limited animation shows ended up as {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} fare aimed primarily at youngsters, again for bottom-line reasons: Children weren't as sensitive to quality issues as adult viewers, and cartoons were cheaper and more reliable to produce than the kinds of live-action shows normally made for children (animation features no last-minute bloopers, no need to control live untrained children, and less pay/credit for the people who do the work). Of course the studios and networks loved it- and so did the parents, who could leave their children with MoralGuardian controlled shows they were certain wouldn't corrupt them. Cartoons also suffered from a '[[ComedyGhetto comedy only' stereotype in that, if they're not funny, they have no business being a cartoon and thus are not quality entertainment for 'mature' people.]] Since kids were the primary (and only) target of cartoons and children respond to humor more than any other genre and laughter to any other feeling, cartoons became the stuff of cheap laughs. While many gags did elicit responses, most of the cartoons were generally very cheap and lazy with their writing. Thus, they tended to rely on the presumption that all children were amused by things such as superdeformation and wacky sound effects, which became staples of cartoons thanks to its ease creating surrealism.

Because of a lack of theatrical venues, short-form cartoons turned to television. Full-quality animation was expensive and involved protracted development cycles -- but LimitedAnimation methods could achieve the required output of ten to twenty episodes per season while remaining reasonable in terms of cost. Studios realized cartoons made with limited animation could be cheaper than live-action shows; while a few did make primetime early on -- the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', for example -- the majority of limited animation shows ended up as {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} fare aimed primarily at youngsters, again for bottom-line reasons: Children weren't as sensitive to quality issues as adult viewers, and cartoons were cheaper and more reliable to produce than the kinds of live-action shows normally made for children (animation features no last-minute bloopers, no need to control live untrained children, and less pay/credit for the people who do the work). Of course the studios and networks loved it- and so did the parents, who could leave their children with MoralGuardian controlled shows they were certain wouldn't corrupt them. Cartoons also suffered from a '[[ComedyGhetto comedy only' stereotype in that, if they're not funny, they have no business being a cartoon.]] Since kids were the primary (and only) target of cartoons and children respond to humor more than any other genre and laughter to any other feeling, cartoons became the stuff of cheap laughs. While many gags did elicit responses, most of the cartoons were generally very cheap and lazy with their writing. Thus, they tended to rely on the presumption that all children were amused by things such as superdeformation and wacky sound effects, which became staples of cartoons thanks to its ease creating surrealism.

Because of a lack of theatrical venues, short-form cartoons turned to television. Full-quality animation was expensive and involved protracted development cycles -- but LimitedAnimation methods could achieve the required output of ten to twenty episodes per season while remaining reasonable in terms of cost. Studios realized cartoons made with limited animation could be cheaper than live-action shows; while a few did make primetime early on -- the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', for example -- the majority of limited animation shows ended up as {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} fare aimed primarily at youngsters, again for bottom-line reasons: Children weren't as sensitive to quality issues as adult viewers, and cartoons were cheaper and more reliable to produce than the kinds of live-action shows normally made for children (animation features no last-minute bloopers, no need to control live untrained children, and less pay/credit for the people who do the work). Of course the studios and networks loved it- and so did the parents, who could leave their children with shows they were certain wouldn't corrupt them. Cartoons also suffered from a 'comedy only' stereotype in that, if they're not funny, they have no business being a cartoon. Since kids were the primary (and only) target of cartoons and children respond to humor more than any other genre and laughter to any other feeling, cartoons became the stuff of cheap laughs. While many gags did elicit responses, most of the cartoons were generally very cheap and lazy with their writing. Thus, they tended to rely on the presumption that all children were amused by things such as superdeformation and wacky sound effects, which became staples of cartoons.

* Foreward: The case for Anime and Manga when dealing with the Animation Age Ghetto (without trying to deal with AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles) is as laughable as it sad considering that so much anime that the West knows (shonen, almost completely)- while considered safe for kids or teens in Japan - could end up with R ratings in other countries, and yet countries such as Mexico, who are still deep inside the Age Ghetto, refuse to see it any other way than 'if it's drawn, it's for kids, even if there are exposed penises, exposed breasts, on-screen decapitations, constant homosexuality, and cluster F-bombs.' Anime is what studiers of the Age Ghetto (for and against) use to prove that there is, in fact, an Age Ghetto. Some of the outright funny/ridiculous/laziest examples occur when studios try dubbing out suggestive or offensive dialogue, but the show itself still features massive levels of sexual themes or gore- a character tries playing it off with 'cute' or 'cheesy' dialogue that suggests that the sword clearly impaling her and pushing her heart out through her chest is actually nothing more than a trick and she actually caught the sword under her arm. Anime remains a hot button issue in the debate over the Age Ghetto thanks to the fact that Anime was never in the Ghetto to begin with, and that it only enters the Ghetto when dubbed to other languages. Also, many Western fans who use anime content as proof that it's not for kids, when in Japan it was clearly meant for kids. In generalum, Anime and Manga are oft set with kids media for the sole fact that that they are animated and this issue is only raised upon attempt to watch said anime or read said manga in front of parents who think their kid is actually about to get a happy tale of talking animals and corny super heroes singing along to defeat obviously bad guys...

A quick note: sometimes, people assume the "adult" in "adult animation" means [[RatedMForMoney lots of foul language, sexual content, and violence]] -- but "adult" can also refer to content too complex for children to handle (as in "Would kids really understand this?"). Such content often ends up interpreted as either {{Parental Bonus}}es or GettingCrapPastTheRadar. Further confounding this is that some things may be too complex for kids...but is presented in a way that actually wouldn't be out of place in something meant for kids, [[WesternAnimation/Cars such as a movie about the oil industry's excessive greed and ignorance towards the environment, and the hero of the day being a talking superspy tow truck.]] Many shows featuring humanoids and anthropomorphic animals but are not directly meant for kids (usually due to portraying stereotypes, such as the 'fat cat Wall street executive' actually being a fat cat) sometimes suffer this.

A quick note: sometimes, people assume the "adult" in "adult animation" means [[RatedMForMoney lots of foul language, sexual content, and violence]] -- but "adult" can also refer to content too complex for children to handle (as in "Would kids really understand this?"). Such content often ends up interpreted as either {{Parental Bonus}}es or GettingCrapPastTheRadar. Further confounding this is that some things may be too complex for kids...but is presented in a way that actually wouldn't be out of place in something meant for kids, such as a movie about the oil industry's excessive greed and ignorance towards the environment, and the hero of the day being a talking superspy tow truck. Many shows featuring humanoids and anthropomorphic animals but are not directly meant for kids (usually due to portraying stereotypes, such as the 'fat cat Wall street executive' actually being a fat cat) sometimes suffer this.

By the way, what most in the west don't know is that there is more than just shonen and in fact most anime isn't, but in terms of shipping it to the West, at least on major broadcasting, the ghetto prevents anyone from learning about this because executives/moral guardians are going to make it shonen. Any anime that isn't acceptable for kids and not set on a network that plays such stuff uncensored- or is acceptable for kids to an extent and has to be excessively censored- will suffer this. However, that particular aspect is not Age Ghetto- it begins with Bowdlerisation and continues from there.

Animation owns the reputation of a frivolous medium suitable primarily for children's entertainment; according to numerous people from the animation community, this attitude prevails across much of the Western Hemisphere (and the Eastern Hemisphere's animation industry suffers this, though to a lesser extent). This wasn't always the case: during both TheSilentAgeOfAnimation and TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, cartoons -- though very limited in their range of subject -- ended up targeting adults as well as children. Three separate factors -- [[LazyArtist the rise of]] LimitedAnimation, the fall of the studio system, and advances in color film technology -- ended up creating the '''Animation Age Ghetto''' [[hottip:*:That's animation being put into an "age ghetto", [[{{Mondegreen}} not the dystopic events that take place after the fall of live action entertainment]].

A quick note: sometimes, people assume the "adult" in "adult animation" means [[RatedMForMoney lots of foul language, sexual content, and violence]] -- but "adult" can also refer to content too complex for children to handle (as in "Would kids really understand this?"). Such content often ends up interpreted as either {{Parental Bonus}}es or GettingCrapPastTheRadar. Further confounding this is that some things may be too complex for kids...but is presented in a way that actually wouldn't be out of place in something meant for kids.

Animation owns the reputation of a frivolous medium suitable primarily for children's entertainment; according to numerous people from the animation community, this attitude prevails across much of the Western Hemisphere (and the Eastern Hemisphere's animation industry suffers this, though to a lesser extent). This wasn't always the case: during both TheSilentAgeOfAnimation and TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, cartoons -- though very limited in their range of subject -- ended up targeting adults as well as children. Three separate factors -- [[LazyArtist the rise of]] LimitedAnimation, the fall of the studio system, and advances in color film technology -- ended up creating the '''Animation Age Ghetto''' [[hottip:*:That's animation being put into an "age ghetto", [[{{Mondegreen}} not the dystopic events that take place after the fall of live action entertainment]].

In the age of black and white film, the Technicolor process made shooting live-action footage a complex and expensive process -- but color animation could be made with easier and less expensive methods while remaining as much of a [[JustForPun draw]] as live-action films. By TheFifties, live-action color films (and even television) became commonplace, which negated the [[{{HSQ}} Wow Factor]] of animation -- and without the studio system to ensure shorts would be bundled with features, the market for animated shorts eventually crumbled. Due to a new focus on long-format pieces by the major motion picture studios, only Creator/{{Disney}} remained in the American animation business -- and during TheFifties and TheSixties, it entered [[TheDarkAgeOfAnimation a period of being aggressively family-friendly]].

Because of a lack of theatrical venues, short-form cartoons turned to television. Full-quality animation was expensive and involved protracted development cycles -- but LimitedAnimation methods could achieve the required output of ten to twenty episodes per season while remaining reasonable in terms of cost. Studios realized cartoons made with limited animation could be cheaper than live-action shows; while a few did make primetime early on -- the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', for example -- the majority of limited animation shows ended up as {{Saturday morning|Cartoon}} fare aimed primarily at youngsters, again for bottom-line reasons: Children weren't as sensitive to quality issues as adult viewers, and cartoons were cheaper and more reliable to produce than the kinds of live-action shows normally made for children (animation features no last-minute bloopers, no need to control live untrained children, and less pay/credit for the people who do the work). Of course the studios and networks loved it.

Once television animation became associated with children, the producers of animated shows began writing down to their presumed audience -- which made animation outside of the Age Ghetto less profitable than animation inside it. Anything considered safe for children can potentially be licensed out for merchandise, which is nearly guaranteed to sell; shows can even be [[MerchandiseDriven 30-minute commercials]] (FCC regulations permitting). The Age Ghetto paints older demographics as unprofitable.

These days, the Ghetto appears to have lost some strength -- at least on television, anyway. Any cartoon not on a broadcast network (read: most cartoons made today) can defy the Ghetto as much as their mission statements allow. The concept of the ParentalBonus also made a comeback; after enough [=PSAs=] on parents needing to know what their kids are watching, the networks finally figured out parents can be a demographic. The successes of shows such as ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' proved animated shows for adults can be profitable -- to the point where such shows exist within their own genre, fill entire viewing blocs (such as Creator/CartoonNetwork's late-night Creator/AdultSwim and Creator/{{FOX}}'s prime-time Animation Domination Sunday), and build [[Creator/SethMacFarlane entire careers]]. These shows' tendencies to take RefugeInAudacity, however, [[AllAdultAnimationisSouthPark can make people think animation remains "immature"]] -- even if it's not for kids -- which doesn't help matters when it comes to breaking animation out of the Age Ghetto. Even programming with large [[PeripheryDemographic numbers of viewers outside their intended audience range]] such as WesternAnimation/AdventureTime and WesternAnimation/GravityFalls do manage to work their way out of the ghetto by often being regarded as compelling works suitable for either kids or adults. Even so, many still judge them as good "for a cartoon" and are surprised by an animated series ostensibly aimed at kids being able to have good writing and characterization.

Animated feature films stayed more respectable than TV animation: in the decades since animation's rise to prominence on television, numerous child-friendly feature films became critical darlings -- so long as they brought a quality story to the table -- and Creator/{{Pixar}} did more to break down the Age Ghetto for animation than any other studio in the United States. The simple fact that for a feature film to really succeed, it must appeal to adults on some level is the major incentive to defy this trope.

Japan holds fewer preconceptions about animation, thanks to a different cultural view of the medium than in the West (most of the socially-acceptable animation comes in the form of theatrical films and primetime shows -- especially those with the longevity of ''Manga/SazaeSan''[[note]]Since 1969, although the manga version dates back to 1946[[/note]] or the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise[[note]]Since 1979, which has made it the Japanese equivalent of sorts to ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek''[[/note]]). But although Anime has more mainstream acceptance, it still faces public stigma in Japan: it's viewed as either "shows for children" or "shows for the socially awkward". (The latter alludes to the [[OtakuOClock post-midnight showtimes]] of a large amount of anime; the view strengthened thanks to the moral panic caused by the Tsutomu Miyazaki murders; which is not helped at all by Otaku in general being viewed even less favorably by some members of society compared with nerds/geeks in the West.) Anime's success in the West -- especially North America -- produced a generation of viewers who have learned to enjoy animation well into adulthood, which helped in breaking the Age Ghetto down. Anime and manga also gained a strong {{Hatedom}} (and HateDumb) because of the Age Ghetto, which helps keep the Age Ghetto alive and well. In a cruel twist of irony, [[FandomRivalry fans]] of Anime and Western Animation often collide and end up accusing the other of being in the Ghetto. (If anything, anime suffered the ''reverse'' of the Ghetto; see AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles.)

* France used to have no problem with broadcasting shows like ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' or ''Manga/SpaceAdventureCobra'' in a time slot intended for kids; ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' used to in the 8 am or 10 am slot on [=TF1=] back in the 1990s. This show sometimes has someone dying, bleeding to death, dismembered, etc., every other episode. This led to rather awkward dubbing from the voice actors, who had a hard time making the constant violence appear light-hearted, and to some protestations by parental associations. With the recent rehabilitation of animated media (greatly due to an exponentially increasing fandom of anime), much work has been put in making over the dubbing; anime is now viewed as a full-blown genre with its own specifications. Yet, censorship dies hard; Bowdlerisation still happens when the show's intended audience is too wide.\\\

* Of what little anime got imported to Hungary, this most notably affected ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', which, despite being tame compared to some of the series described above, having been dubbed from the heavily edited French version and shown in the afternoon, had to be pulled when the ORTT (Hungarian FCC) deemed it too violent for children. It was to be re-rated as 18+ and pushed to a midnight timeslot, but knowing that no one would watch it then, the TV station simply canceled it. It took a decade for it to get back on screens, and although it's still edited and censored, and on top of it plays during an "adult animation" block, the new broadcaster has to flash a "not suitable for small children" screen before each episode.

* JephLoeb admittedly believes in pandering Creator/MarvelComics cartoons to children, hence the comedic overtones and self-contained storylines of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'', and the rumor that ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' will have similar elements. Never mind the acclaim their respective predecessors, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'', received by also appealing to Marvel Comics' adult fans. However, according to those present at the airing of the test footage shown at Comic Con 2012, ''Assemble'' is supposedly darker and shares a tone closer to [[Film/TheAvengers the movie]]. This was likely due to the BrokenBase ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' developed over the childish elements.